Into the Sewers (Part 2) WHO: Joaco, Alejo, Hakan, Wren, Mateo, Juliet, Jomana, Fernanda, Aslan, Faihan, and Chelo WHEN: May 16 WHERE: Mar Luna's Sewer System / La Estrella Hotel SUMMARY: Joaco leads the unawoken Chosen (and others) on an adventure to explore the tree's root system...from inside the sewers. CW: Fantasy violence; snakes and webs; mourning Titus (sisters grieving brothers).
Fernanda, Wren, and Hakan are currently seated inside the car. About fifteen minutes have passed, and the rain is finally starting to wind down somewhat.
"Sooo, like, it seems like a long time has passed." (It has not, but.) "I mean, like doesn't it? Shouldn't we be doing something besides sitting here?" Fernanda asked.
"We didn't really get instructions. Or something. Wouldn't it be obvious if something was wrong? I hope so..." Wren replied.
"Maybe they can't tell us though, because something has gone like super wrong." Fifteen minutes of boredom is more than she can tolerate—Fernanda gets out of the car.
"They wouldn't really have to tell us, since there'd be...screaming. And all that."
Hakan has been quiet, mostly unsure how to say 'hi' to Wren but also worrying about his brother. "Maybe we should...I don't know, I kinda forget what we're doing."
Adventure!! is much more fun when it isn't as overtly dangerous. Wren does not think herself a coward, but her bat doesn't feel as protective as she hoped it would be. She watches Fernanda leave the car and debates following. The car offers defense, but if she ends up alone, what sort of defense is it?
"They are looking for the tree in the sewers. We are making sure no one steals the car, and to save the day if it goes badly. Which I hope it does not, because I'm not sure how much saving we can do with...us." Wren sighs dramatically. "If it was a ghost, I could help."
Fernanda has already gone over to study the wall. She'd seen Joaco use magic to get through it, so them getting through it is probably going to be a little harder. She looks to see if there is any reason, like barbed wire, they can't climb over the top...
The wall was tall, and on top there was wired fence with an electricity warning attached. Besides this, everything was slippery from the rain.
Seeing there is no way over, Fernanda considers whether there might be a break in the wall, or a place where it's been damaged and can maybe be manipulated to get them inside... She jogs along—though not far—searching for vulnerabilities.
Hakan grins a little at Wren. If they were ghosts maybe they could. "I think it would be hard to move things as a ghost though. Maybe we could try? Or magic stones?"
"We could get through the gate Fernanda is having issues with, so that's already a point in their favor."
"It would work if we could turn back...or turn in the first place."
Just then...the car begins to shake.
...And with that, Wren is out of the car in about ten seconds flat, complete with her bat.
Hakan jumps out of the car, too, screaming slightly.
Hearing the scream, Fernanda starts to run back in the direction of the car.
A low hiss passes close to where Wren is standing, the nearby bushes shaking, but they can't see anything.
Wren holds her bat in the general direction of the hissing, prepared in case...
Something invisible wraps around Hakan's leg and rapidly drags him through the mud and deeper into the nearby park.
Hakan swears and attempts to pull away.
Oh no, it is ghosts! And she didn't think ahead to bring the ghost hunting gear along! Although, as she runs after Hakan to try to pull him back or something, Wren thinks that none of it is really meant to do anything but identify them.
"What's wrong? What happened—" Fernanda sees Wren running after Hakan who— "CREEPY!" Probably it seems a little lackadaisical given the invisible grabbing haunted house-style, but Fernanda does run to the car instead, popping the trunk to see if there's anything useful back there...
Whatever is pulling Hakan is strong enough to pull Wren, too, unless she lets go.
Hakan winces, "No!!! Magic Crystal please help me!! Or something!"
Wren holds on for a few seconds, but lets go because general self-preservation instincts kicks in. "What is it? I can't see anything!"
Whoooosh—there goes Hakan, leaving the other two behind...
Shit. This is supposed to be the easy task! Not the weird, mystery task with a ghost! Wait. Wren is good at ghosts. Right?? Right. She takes off, following the track left behind in the mud.
Fernanda locates a wrench—easier than she would expect, and then she recalls who prepared this car and is not surprised at all! (Honestly, she is only surprised that there isn't like some entire Batman arsenal of gadgets...)—and with the wrench in hand, she begins to run after Wren... Noting that Hakan is nowhere to be seen. "Oh my GOD, was he eaten???"
"No. Maybe. I don't know, follow the line in the dirt!"
Fernanda begins to follow the line, trying not to get her shoes muddy.
Wren is the first to get there, noticing that Hakan has been bound to a tree with what looks like silk thread, but there's no sight of his captor. Shortly after her comes Fernanda, who can hear a low hiss close to her ear.
It's Fernanda's turn to scream and wave her wrench wildly, jumping back.
Hakan struggles against the thread and also inwardly struggles to figure out what happened. "Ugh! Why! Help?!" He grits his teeth.
"Did anyone brings scissors? A knife? A sword???" Wren asks. Bats have a lack of sharp edges, tragically.
Hakan manages to free himself, but just as he does, something scaly wraps itself around Fernanda and begins dragging her towards a tree.
"Gross! GROSS! /GROSS!/" Fernanda tries to wriggle free and smack it with her wrench.
"Hah! Not invisible now!" Wren goes after it and attempts to hit it with the bat, doing her best to not hit Fernanda at the same time.
Hakan pulls free and sort of stumbles out of the thread, but quickly recovers. His eyes widen fiercely as he picks up a nearby stick and also tries to take a swing.
Hakan's hit briefly deactivates the creature's camouflage—revealing a very long, vaguely serpent-like beast—but the lapse lasts only a few seconds, and it's invisible again.
Something scaly has ahold of her. It's creepy and gross, even more so because she can't even see it, and Fernanda regrets not going with the others into the sewers, because she is going to be eaten by some kind of gross monster, and...
And she's so hopeless. As hopeless as back then.
Honestly, it's only because her makeup game is just that good, because Fernanda did not sleep more than two hours the night before. She'd left the meeting and peeked in on Alejo, who was fine. So she went to take a bath, but the warm water somehow just made the tears harder to press back, and so she got out and did some yoga, and then she did some more yoga. Yoga was SUPPOSED to fix it when you felt all off and confused. It was supposed to ground you. She did a lot of yoga, and then she sat by the window and looked at the rain. She fell asleep for a short time then, but woke up when she fell over.
And it was still there, locked in her chest—that horrible feeling of loss that didn't quite make sense, because Alejo was alive and well. Alive and well and with the person he loved most... And no, she hadn't trusted Badr, because back then, he had been saying things that seemed completely bizarre with no proof, and...and he'd been going around Titus to do so. And maybe Fernanda didn't feel quite that way about Faihan, though maybe it had been kind of complicated? Because their mom didn't think much of him, and she was worried with all this upheaval...about what would happen to Alejo, but—
Her dumb brother who thought she didn't know that their parents were going to get divorced, who held all that pain inside him until he felt like he had to run away from home and hide on the yacht, and he had turned off his phone, and she had been scared to death, because what was he even thinking? And what had he been thinking, just running away after Joaco without a word to her? She'd tried very hard the past few days to look brave about everything, but she had cried every night that her brothers were missing, her feet blistered and bruised from searching for them.
She loved him as much then, even though he had been simply her friend, as she does now, and somehow, her love and her shield had not been enough to keep him alive.
Her big, stupid brother. The best man she has ever known. Better, maybe, than even her father. Better, maybe, than even Joaco. Pure to a fault. Kind to a fault. Always doing his best for other people, and maybe he didn't always /get it/, because maybe he wasn't always the brightest, but he had always been her guiding star, and learning that that star had gone dark—
So she hadn't slept, and she doesn't know why she's here and not there with him, except that she can't do anything. She has a wrench, and they're fighting monsters (and her clothes are dirty now, too, and her shoes ruined)...and what good is she? What good is she? Alejo is the one shielding everyone from in front, but who's watching him from behind? That's supposed to be where she is, with /her/ shield, and—
And she feels so angry somehow. Fernanda is not used to being angry. She has known sad; in the past year, with their parents splitting...she'd known that a lot. But anger is a surprise to her, and it's so hot and big. It feels like a white sun burning through a haze of orange dust...glinting off metal and glass, stinging from every direction. She can feel that Donnersberg sunlight, and she can feel the weight of her shield on her arm, and...
No wait, she really can feel the weight of her shield on her arm?
She blinks in shock as she realizes she's not wearing her adorable little skort outfit and is instead in leather armor, cinched with a heavy corset, weight down at the hip (and her hips were definitely a bit sturdier back then) with belts. But it's her shield. Her shield, with the desert rose at its center, beaded with orange magitech lights.
"LET GO OF ME!" She bellows and brings it down on the part of the creepy thing holding her.
The beast recoils with a loud hiss, briefly appearing again before scurrying away.
Hakan blinks, and his mouth opens slightly as he sees Fernanda transform to a very familiar look. Those memories of his rival—he pushes down some feelings of bitterness—Nila wants to transform too. "Nice one." He holds his stick like a baseball bat, preparing for the monster to return.
Panting, Fernanda straightens herself, moving closer to the others with her shield hiked up. "Thanks, drippy." She's a little surprised at the nickname, but... well, water.
"It seems to un-invisible when we land a hit? I have a feeling...I could maybe help with that... But it moves fast, so we'll have to be ready to attack it as soon as it appears. Stagger it maybe...one attack and then another, and if it has a head—oh my God, what if it doesn't... Wait, not important! If it has a head, go for the head." She offers Hakan her trusty wrench. "Works for zombies, right?"
"Cool!" What a transformation! Wren had only seen Eli's so far. Which was cool, but in a different sort of way. "I wonder if throwing mud at it would work too. It won't be un-invisible, but we'd probably be able to see it no matter what it's doing."
Hakan smirks a little, not really liking the nickname but whatever. That can wait. He throws the stick aside and reaches for the wrench. "Thanks, Earthy." Not clever, but it will have to do for now. "Make it visible and we'll attack? Or mud. I like the mud idea too!"
"Make it visible, and one person attack, to prolong the visible—and the other person mud?" Fernanda shouts.
The creature grabs Wren and makes a run for it!
Wren yelps and does her best to attempt to struggle her way out of being held.
Hakan gasps as he sprints after Wren and the creature. "Oh no you don't!" He grits his teeth as he attempts to swing the wrench as soon as he gets close.
"Darn!" Fernanda raises her shield above her head, smashing it into the earth to give the ground a good shake...and possibly force the creature visible again.
Hakan misses and almost hits Wren. But as the ground beneath it trembles, causing the creature to stick, it hisses and releases her. A part of its tail has become dirty with mud.
Wren scrambles away as soon as she can, back to where the other two are standing "That's scary!"
Hakan winces and pulls his punch, but then he gasps. "I can see it now!"
"This thing is THE WORST. Where is it?" Fernanda looks around, trying to see what Hakan is seeing...and spotting something dirty and wriggly. "What if we pin it by the tail?"
They have a bat, a wrench, and a shield...which isn't great, but she thinks maybe she can use her shield to hold it...
"Hope you wake up sooner than later, sleepyhead. We're all blunt force here!" Fernanda darts forward, to try to catch a monster by the tail. She slams the shield down on the visible part of the snake, pinning it.
There is a special sort of focus in a fight like this, unlike anything Wren has experienced before. Going through mostly-not danger to find the supernatural requires a lot of thought and a lot of planning. Fighting one? Requires a lot of mud, apparently, but also a single-minded focus.
Keep your aim true. Let the wind guide you.
It's a rush, unlike anything else she's known, that goes through and around her, like a whirlwind or a tornado, and from the other side...
In full pirate splendor, she aimed her gun at the monster.
Just try to avoid her now.
Something about this fight, and protecting Wren, really pumps the adrenaline in the normally sleepy Hakan—causing the job stone to suddenly feel warm. A warmth that radiates and spreads across his body, much like diving into a warm sea.
He can feel the torrent of a rushing river, the strength of waves on the ocean, and the magic of a mountain lake. Hakan feels like he has been submerged in all of it at once, and for a brief moment, he can't breathe.
But he comes out the other side, his athleisureware replaced with light, billowing pants that look like they could have been made with water itself, and a sparkling mid-drift top.
Now, he really knows how to dance.
With the snake held in place, the two newly awoke descend on the beast with bullets and chakrams, striking it as one, and—
Not-snake is no more.
Upon venturing deeper into the tunnel, Joaco, Juliet, and Mateo discover a third and final stake, and upon removing it, everyone with magic abilities hears a loud scream...
...whether they will remember it or not. The group hurried back outside to meet up with the other teams.
"What was that?" Jomana asks.
"The sound of things getting complicated, I'd say," Mateo remarks.
"Nero's magic breaking. Or being tampered with," Faihan adds.
"Well, so that's good. Right...?" asks Jomana.
"Maybe..." Faihan glances at Alejo and looks away again quickly. "It can be painful. Messing with it."
"If all it is is painful...that's not /so/ bad," Aslan replies.
"Where's Nanda and the others?" asks Juliet.
Fernanda, running happily towards the sound of emerging voices, suddenly cries out: "POWER!"
"I control ALLL the water," Hakan adds.
"It wasn't my doing." A pause. "This time."
Aslan quirks an eyebrow an Joaco. "...this time?"
Joaco gestures to the other group. "Whatever they went through, I mean."
"There was mud and a snake and we ended it," Fernanda proudly proclaims.
Juliet goes in for a high five with Fernanda. "Hell yeah, you did."
Fernanda gives Juliet that high five and rubs her nose. "Heh heh."
"Are you guys okay...?" Alejo asks.
"Better than ever," Fernanda says, with a flex of her bicep.
"Awesome! Even though the invisible monster was annoying to hit," adds Wren.
"We all did well," Hakan summarizes.
Faihan clears his throat softly, butting into the conversation with a different thought. "...All of their magic seems to come from something ritualistic. These traps...the spiders and the fox and everything... Probably there's some kind of ritual that sets that off somewhere, too. But if they can summon these things...why can't we also summon something to maybe...breach the area around the tree, or around the tower...and break the failsafes on it?"
"What do you have in mind?" asks Jomana.
"I'm not sure. I don't remember ever doing magic like that. Only, if they can do it, we should be able to as well. They're beating us down with these monsters...exhausting us when we're already exhausted. If we can remove that hurdle... If we do have to face them..." Faihan trails off.
"He's the magic man," Aslan says, gesturing to Joaco. "Have you ever created anything like those spiders?"
Joaco rubs his chin. "Welll.... the closest to that you've already met and it's not something I can pull out of a hat."
"What happens now...if anything happens to them? You said in the past, they return to their crystal—their element..."
"While the Crystals exist here, their powers are far weaker, so..." He grows quiet. "Anyway, I think what we did weakened the barrier you've been having trouble with, but it's still a threat."
Faihan nods, frowning at the implication. That's out then. "Maybe...a battle team and an infiltration team—when we get to the tower? One team to deal with the traps. The other to forge ahead... But, where do you want us to go first? The tree? There was a strange flower—in the middle of its trunk—but we couldn't observe it very easily. It seemed important. If we are returning to the tree first, and not the tower, that flower could be a key to something."
"First we'll need to go back to Taboga Town to prepare, but... I wonder if you're onto something. Those two points are clearly connected, at least." Joaco sighs. "However, I don't want to split us off."
"I hope...we have better luck with the traps this time," Faihan murmurs.
"They're not my traps, so hopefully none to be concerned about," Mateo replies.
Alejo listens with his chin on Faihan's shoulder.
"Well, you know what traps they are," Faihan replies with a sardonic expression. "You might still have some bruises from yesterday..." He glances at Alejo and then pats his shoulder from over his own shoulder.
"At least we're all awake now," says Hakan.
Aslan is sneaking to the car to find a good spot before the smaller people start cramming in.
Seeing Aslan scurrying away, Julie scampers after him.
Aslan sees competition for his sweet spot. He runs.
Juliet runs faster.
"Rude," Aslan pants.
"Last one to the car’s a void-scrambled egg!" Juliet crows.
"What, I am not an egg!" Fernanda also runs at the car.
Hakan sighs but only saunters to the car.
Joaco just gets in the driver's seat; it is not up to discussion.
"I hope they still have that much energy for the next part." Faihan glances at Alejo and then away again. "I hope...all of this, that it's..." He takes a deep breath, feels it catch, and sighs quietly to himself, offering nothing else. To the car, then.
Alejo squeezes him in his arms before letting go and walking after him.
Once they return, Grandpa ordains that everyone take a one-hour break before getting his ducks in a row again.
"Mateo... Chelo, I need to talk with you." Joaco says, approaching the two before the meeting starts.
"Sure. What's up?" asks Mateo.
Chelo glances uncertainly—like he isn't sure it's him Joaco is asking for. He clears his throat. “Um, of course.”
"I will take the Chosen with me to the tree, I need you two to take care of things for me while we're gone."
“Me? You’re sure…?” Chelo is glad to not be in trouble though.
Mateo asks, "What things exactly?"
"I need you to get everyone willing to help organized. I don't know if they'll plan to attack anyone else while we are occupied... and I also need you to organize a strike team for the tower, just in case," Joaco explains.
“Okay. Eli and I have been holding beach trainings, so I have a good idea of who can do what for the strike team…”
"And Mateo knows where to find the tower. Also! Please work on the defenses of our base," replies Joaco.
"Sounds like a decent enough plan. I can focus on rounding up everyone able to work magitech on the defenses of the base," Mateo adds.
"Rym--Er, Hasan will be part of the assault team, I already talked with him."
Chelo turns a little pink. “…G-great. That’ll…great.”
"Do we still have the contact list for everyone involved in this?" Mateo asks.
"Stalk them or something, you'll figure it out," Joaco jokes with a grin.
“I’ve got the call tree on my phone. James is here too. And she put it together. She also was in charge, er, well…with Professor Karimi… They led the evacuation here,” Chelo says.
"Good. I'll talk to them and work on getting everyone back here to relative safety," Mateo replies.
"Let me go get her--" Joaco wanders off with no further explanation.
Chelo looks at Mateo and shrugs.
"He does that a lot."
Chelo chuckles. “Hi. We never really talk. But I’m glad you’re on the team. Both of you.”
Mateo blinks, but smiles. "Thanks. Not something I expected any of you to say after ... all of that stuff from before. But I appreciate it."
Joaco returns with James.
James—looking harried, frizzed, hollowed-eyed, yet somehow determined with a toddler affixed to her hip like a fifth appendage—follows along without question.
Chelo waves to James as they return...and to Elisa, though he doubts she remembers him from nearly a year ago.
Elisa, looking as determined as her mother, returns the wave with a stoic nod.
"Okay, so, I want to ask you the same, James. Work with these two guys to ensure the safety of everyone while the Chosen go to the tree. I'm not going to ask you to participate in any assaults," Joaco glances over at Elisa. "But you are clever and I'm sure you can think of ways to shore up our defenses in this island."
Chelo grins, giving the toddler a thumbs up. "We're in good hands now... But...how will we know if you do need us?"
"Clever of you to point out. I had that kid, Santi? Work on something for us. A device to communicate through magic regardless of distance. I'll get to that at the meeting." Joaco folds his arms over his chest. "The assault will happen regardless."
"Then it'll be great. He's the smartest," says Mateo.
"Yeah, it'll..." Chelo rubs the back of his neck. "Will...he be okay? This time?"
James glances at Chelo, brows twitching in mild confusion. "Did something happen to Santi?"
"Not Santi... Titus— um, Alejo. It probably...wouldn't make a lot of difference if I was there or not, judging by history, but please..." Chelo swallows, looking to Joaco. "Make sure he comes home safe this time. Do what I could not."
"Ah." James clicks her tongue, glancing now to Elisa, who responds in kind. "Well, we're going to win this time. That's all there is to it."
"I won't let anything happen to him. Not on my watch," says Mateo.
"We will. So, with that sorted, I'll trust your judgement to split our resources," Joaco agrees.
"We are three steps ahead of you, not to worry. We've been very busy around here, haven't we, love?" James asks.
Elisa holds up three fingers.
Chelo nods at Joaco, thankful. "Luckily, I'm thinking Eli already did some of this, so I think...we just have to pick up where he left off." He chuckles at Elisa's serious little face and looks away. "We better get to work."
Joaco smiles at Elisa. "Good thing we have such a powerful wizard on our side." He then looks over at Chelo. "Thank you— and don't worry, I'll make sure they return home safely."